Short Summary

Hundreds of Amsterdam Jews on Friday (25 February) gathered around a memorial sculpture to commemorate the 1941 general strike in Amsterdam.

Description

Hundreds of Amsterdam Jews on Friday (25 February) gathered around a memorial sculpture to commemorate the 1941 general strike in Amsterdam. They were also protesting over the Government's plans to release the last three Nazi war criminals serving life sentences in the Netherlands.

There were also demonstrations in The Hague over the proposed releases. Scuffles broke out outside the Dutch parliament building between supporters and critics of the Government's plans, and the Jewish Organisation in the Netherlands has officially opposed plans to grant a collective pardon to Franz Fischer, Joseph Kotaella and Ferdinand Aue Der Fuenten--sentenced for their parts in the deportation and subsequent extermination of Dutch Jews during the Second World War.